Christmas of the Bat
by Striders-Girl89
Summary: Events of Batman: Arkham Origins as told through the eyes of Barbara Gordon. Will be some Batman butt kicking.
1. 1: Barbara Gordon

_**Author's Note: I do not own anything to do with Batman or Batman Arkham Origins, I just really love it.**_

_**Basically, this is Arkham Origins as told through the eyes of Barbara Gordon. It might turn into a larger story depending on if you guys like it or not. **_

_**Enjoy, and please let me know what you think.**_

* * *

_**Christmas of the Bat;**_

_**Chapter One: Barbara Gordon**_

Barbara Gordon: fourteen years old and ready to take on the world. Well, her own little world at least and only if her over-protective uncle would let her. She couldn't exactly blame him for being as he was, considering the fact that he was a cop in Gotham City – one of the few police officers who weren't corrupt and taking cuts from the city's biggest criminals. These days, it seemed that there weren't that many cops left and Barbara should know due to how much time she spent at the GCPD.

The reason Barbara spent so much time at the GCPS was mostly due to her mother's line of work. Thelma Gordon would often pull double shifts at Arkham Asylum, an old creepy mansion situated on a lonely island in the north of Gotham Bay. Most of the residents were there on their own merit (or their families) due to some serious psychological condition, but there was a secure wing that housed a few criminals who couldn't afford to buy off lawyers or attorneys and judges, much to her uncle's displeasure.

Her uncle, Captain James Gordon (better known to her as Jim) was the most honest cop in the entire precinct, something which made a lot of officers around him a bit jumpy –which in turn made her uncle pretty jumpy too. Barbara hated it; the whole system in Gotham was broken and corruption went right up to the highest levels, and not just in the police force. The whole city was rife with corruption and Barbara just wished that there was someone that would stand up and fight it. Gotham was the only city that she knew of where it was probably better to _not_ call the police if you needed help. Recently though, there was something that had unnerved the criminals, both on the street and in the Government. A rumour and a myth, something that Barbara hadn't believed when she first heard about him. No, it hadn't been until numerous reports had come in from various sources, including from police officers that she and a lot of other people had started to pay attention.

The Batman.

At first Barbara had thought it was some kind of hoax because there was no such thing as a man-bat, but she had managed to find some files from detective Wertz (a somewhat shady officer who worked under her uncle) that actually contained some poor-quality pictures of a guy dressed up as a bat who would kick the snot out of people. From what Barbara had read, the Batman would attack at night and he varied in what he would actually do to people. According to one guy, he swore that Batman was a vampire who had sucked his blood, and another said that the Batman had been armed to the teeth. The only consistency that Barbara could find was that Batman always seemed to be stopping some form of crime, regardless of the thugs being proper criminals or corrupt cops, hence the reason why most of the police force in Gotham hated him. It excited her really, that there was finally someone in the city who was fed up. Well, at least that's what she hoped that was why the guy acted like he did. Hopefully, something in the city was about to change, she only wished that she were old enough to be a proper part of it.

"Hey kiddo how was school?" asked her uncle as she walked into his office that overlooked the 'bullpen'.

"It was okay," Barbara answered with a shrug. "Despite the fact that today was the official last day of term before Christmas and we were practically snowed in, didn't learn anything and we just sat there watching cartoons. I mean, I should have just stayed at home and I would have learnt more."

Jim smiled warmly at his niece, who dropped her heavy school bag somewhat dramatically in front of his desk before sinking into the chair beside her.

"You know, most kids your age would have enjoyed school today," Jim told her lightly, watching Barbara as she rolled her eyes. "I bet the teachers love having you in their classes."

"Is that supposed to be a complement?" asked Barbara with a slight frown as Jim stood up, his smile widening and walked around his desk.

"You bet it is kiddo," he said ruffling up her pony tail. "I've still got half-an-hour of my shift left are you okay to wait here?"

"Of course," Barbara nodded. "But are they actually going to let you get away on time tonight?"

"Hey, it's the end of a double shift; if they think they can keep me here a minute past four o'clock, they've got another thing coming." Jim told her seriously as he left his office, making Barbara smirk.

She sat in silence for a few moments before getting up and walking around the desk to sit in her uncle's chair, gazing at the items upon his desk. The computer screen had been left open on a court statement that was very much a work-in-progress and Barbara wondered if the case would even go to court. Beside the computer there was a thick pile of manila folders that had an empty mug of coffee on top of it and a photo frame that held a picture of her hugging her cousin Jimmy. They both looked fairly similar; red hair, blue eyes and freckles across their cheeks, the main difference was that Barbara had a pair of thick-rimmed classes on. She smiled at the photograph for a few moments before the office door suddenly burst open and an angry looking SWAT lieutenant stormed in.

"Gordon, I've just pulled in a bunch of hobos who claim to have been saved by the Bat again and I can't find Wertz." said lieutenant Branden without looking to the chair that Barbara occupied.

"Who were they being saved from, you and your SWAT team?" asked Barbara innocently, making Branden glare over to her.

"Eh, should have known you'd be in here." He said sourly. "Don't you have a house to go to? Or ballet or gymnastics or whatever it is that you do?"

"Why would I go home and miss all the excitement of homeless men and giant man-bats?" she asked him sarcastically.

"Look kid, I don't care that Gordon is your uncle," Branden said quietly, moving forward to lean on the desk as Barbara folded her arms in reaction to his unappealing tone, especially since he had a loaded firearm holstered at his hip. "And I know for a fact that a lot of other men in the precinct feel the same as I do. We've seen you loitering in dark corners, watching and listening to everyone, so don't think we won't come after you if you start blabbing about the things we do here got it?"

"Is everything okay in here?"

Barbara quickly looked from Branden's intense and frankly threatening expression to the doorway, where Officer Aaron Cash stood looking at Branden with raised eyebrows.

"Yeah," Branden said roughly, turning to size up Cash before giving Barbara one last threatening look before leaving the room.

"Arse," Barbara said under her breath. "Who am I supposed to tell on him to in a city this corrupt anyway?"

"You got that right, kid," Cash nodded understandingly, "Especially the part about him being an arse."

Barbara gave him a warm smile; she had always like Aaron Cash. He was an honest cop whom she could definitely trust.

"Thanks for that," she said awkwardly, knowing how bad the situation could have been if her uncle had of walked in on that.

"No worries," Cash said with a smile. "I saw him come in and I knew that the Batman had put him in a bad mood. I'd hate to know why, but I think we can both hazard a guess. I know I don't have to remind you to be careful around him."

"I know I'm sorry." She said honestly. "He's just so… so…"

"I know," he told her seriously. "At least try to avoid him, considering where his loyalties lie. This job is hard enough for your uncle without needing to worry him about you more than he already does."

Barbara nodded guiltily, not wanting to imagine the possibilities there.

"Shouldn't you be careful saying something like that here?" asked Barbara quietly.

"Don't you worry about me," he said seriously before continuing in lighter tones. "Except if you won't be here tomorrow to help me with the computers down in the sever room."

"You've lost them again?" asked Barbara in slight amusement.

"Power surge at lunch time," Cash explained in annoyance. "Some idiot up in SWAT managed to spill three mugs of coffee on a toaster. We haven't lost power, but the servers are only just managing to keep everything running. Will you be in?"

"Of course," she said eagerly. "I mean, what would you do without me?"

"Lose my job probably," he laughed, making Barbara grin at him.

"Why don't they get IT in to fix them?" she asked. "What about that Nashton bloke?"

"Because that would be the logical thing to do, and we wouldn't want that now would we?" said Cash, once again smiling. "And Edward Nashton is in the Cyber Crime unit, who I have already asked to chip in and help but he reckoned he couldn't do it which is a blatant lie. He could probably give you a run for your money. He said he was going too busy over the next couple of nights working on some kind of project. Anyway, I will see you when you come in tomorrow morning."

"Goodnight," Barbara said, watching him leave and his place being filled almost instantly by her uncle, who looked annoyed, so she gathered that Branden had managed to find him.

"Are you okay Jim?" she asked as he put his coat on.

"I'm fine," he answered her somewhat gruffly. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah," Barbara said as she stood and picked up her bag, before adding lightly. "I told Officer Cash that I would be coming in tomorrow."

"But tomorrow is Christmas Eve," Jim stated, looking down to her with a startled expression.

"He needs help with the servers," Barbara explained.

"Ah," Jim nodded. "He told you about the idiots in SWAT then?"

"Yeah," Barbara said with a smile.

"I don't know what we would do without you here rebooting the computers all the time," Jim told her honestly, making Barbara's smile widen in pride.

"I agree," she said cheekily, making her uncle laugh despite himself.


	2. 2: Choas at Blackgate

_**Author's note; This chapter contains a few lines from Batman: Arkham Origins game, so I am herby acknowledging that. I only use it to tell the story, not take any of the credit. If anyone wants the specific lines I will tell them.**_

_**I wish to also clear a few things up. A guest commented on the last chapter that Barbara Gordon is in fact Jim Gordon's daughter. This is correct in some of the comics, especially the New 52's, and indeed the Arkham Universe games. This story is my own take on the best bits of all things Batman related so I tend to draw on material that is different to that in the games/New 52. The main one being about Barbara's parentage. In some older comics and those that are not in the New 52 universe, Barbara's father was Jim's brother. He and his wife (Rodger and Thelma) died in a car accident and Barbara was later adopted by Jim. As I have mentioned in the previous chapter and again in this chapter, Barbara's mother is still alive, and therefore has not yet been adopted by Jim. Sorry about taking up so much space, but seeing as the guest left no way to respond to their comment, I felt that this was the next best thing. I hope that my explanation clears that up.**_

_**Anyway, enjoy guys.**_

* * *

_Christmas of the Bat_

_Chapter Two: Chaos at Blackgate_

Seeing as her mother was working a double shift at Arkham Island so that she could have Christmas day off, Barbara stayed the night at her uncle's place, something which she had always loved doing. She was treated like a daughter by Jim and his wife Barbara, and she absolutely adored her younger cousin Jimmy.

So, as planned on Christmas Eve, once Barbara had arrived at the GCPD in Burnley she bid Jim farewell and headed down towards the sever rooms. As soon as she walked through the door, Barbara found Aaron Cash cursing angrily at one of the main computers.

"It can't be that bad," Barbara laughed as she made her way towards him.

"Thank God," Cash said as he turned to greet her in a thankful manner. "You have no idea of the grief that the Commissioner has been giving me this morning."

"Well, I'm here now," Barbara smiled, dropping her heavy backpack and moving to the main computer beside Cash that controlled the rest of the GCPD's system. "You did remind him that you aren't an IT expert, right?"

"I didn't have to." said Cash darkly. "He was the one who kept reminding me that I wasn't an IT expert.

"Then why –"

"Then why does he expect me to know what to do?" Cash finished Barbara's sentence for her, "No idea, but today isn't the best day to give him attitude."

"Why not?" asked Barbara.

"Calendar Man is being executed later today over at Blackgate," Cash reminded her.

"Oh yeah," Barbara said with a frown, Cash nodding slowly.

They got to work after this, Barbara attempting to find and fix the problem within the mainframe before restarting the severs to implement the changes. It wasn't an overly difficult task for her, it was more time consuming. It had only been half an hour when her uncle came rushing into the room.

"Cash," Jim said quickly, making both Barbara and Cash look over to him.

"Yes sir?" said Cash promptly.

"I need you up in the surveillance room," Jim ordered. "Are the severs back online?"

"Mostly," Cash told him as he stood up. "Barbara is finishing it all off now, but there are still going to be some kinks that we've missed."

"Nothing we can't fix," Barbara said, frowning slightly at her uncle. "Is everything okay?"

"No, there has been a break in at Blackgate." He said quickly. "Cash I need you to gain access to their video feed from here. I know you aren't an expert but until the cybercrime team get here you are the best we've got."

"A break _in_?" repeated Cash. "Who'd be mad enough to break _into_ Blackgate?"

"It's Blackmask," Jim told him heavily.

"That doesn't sound like his MO," Barbara said out loud before she could stop herself, and her uncle gave her a _how-the-hell-do-you-know-that_ kind of frown.

"Barb, you're going to have to finish up here and go and wait in my office while I am gone." Jim told her quickly.

"But –"

"No Barbara, no buts. Things are going to get chaotic in here very quickly." Jim said sternly, cutting her off before she could complain. "I can't believe I am telling you this, but just make sure the system is operational to basic levels then get to my office, understand?"

"Yes," Barbara said, attempting not to roll her eyes and Jim gave her an appreciative nod before turning and beginning to walk out with Cash.

"We really need a proper IT specialist," Barbara heard Jim say quietly as they walked out. "This is getting beyond a joke; Barbara is fourteen for God's sake!"

"I've tried to get one on a permanent basis, but the Commissioner wants to hear nothing about it." She heard Cash respond.

"Well maybe it's time that I had a proper chat with him." Jim said resolutely.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't appreciate it, Captain," Cash admitted quietly. "Although I will say that I'd miss working with Barbara."

Barbara gave a small smile, no longer able to hear their conversation any longer. She agreed with Cash; the GCPD definitely needed at least one technical support officer at all times, but she would miss the challenge it gave her when they'd ask her to help. She wondered if Aaron Cash would still let her help every now and then. Giving a slight shrug, Barbara got back to working on the servers, being interrupted a few minutes later by a put-out looking Branden

"For God's sake!" he exclaimed when his eyes fell onto Barbara. "Where the hell is Cash, I thought he was supposed to be the one fixing the computers?"

"He got called away," Barbara said, wishing that he hadn't of been now.

"I can't believe this," he said angrily shaking his head. "You don't even work here!"

"Well I wouldn't have needed to have been here in the first place if some idiot had of been more careful with their coffee!" Barbara reminded him with dignity, and Branden looked as though he was going to retort when an officer came into the room.

"Sir," said the young general duties officer.

"What is it?" snapped Branden impatiently.

"Sir, it seems that some evidence crates in the evidence room have gone missing."

"Missing?" repeated Branden. "I'm sure that they are here somewhere, you've probably just overlooked them."

"No sir, you misunderstand," the officer pressed rather bravely in Barbara's opinion considering the murderous look that Branden was now giving him. "Six crates that contained various controlled weaponry that was seized from Cobblepot's men yesterday have all been logged in, but they haven't been logged out –"

"Why are you telling me this?" snapped Branden. "It's not my problem,"

"It is your problem sir, because you were the officer who signed the evidence into the evidence locker." The officer said clearly and Barbara looked sharply across to Branden, whose left eye was twitching slightly.

"I would be very careful with what you are trying to insinuate here, officer." Branden said dangerously and Barbara bit her lip; braver men than this officer would have back-tracked by now, but incredibly, this guy seemed to be holding his ground.

"I'm not insinuating anything, sir, but you were the last person to see that evidence so you are going to have to come down to the evidence locker and make an official statement."

"Well it's going to have to wait," Branden said mockingly. "In case you haven't heard, there's been a break in at Blackgate."

Branden took one last threatening look at the young officer before walking out of the room, the officer bravely mumbling the word "arse" just as Branden was out of ear-shot, which made Barbara grin.

"You okay miss?" the officer asked.

"Yeah, fin thanks," Barbara nodded, giving him a smile. "Are you? I mean, not many people do what you just did and get to walk away, if you catch my meaning."

The young cop gave a slight chuckle.

"I'm fine," he admitted with a grin. "I didn't join the police to cover up some dirty cop's dirty laundry."

"Well, I think you're in the wrong police force," Barbara said in mock-seriousness. "I think the police force over in Metropolis would be more to your liking."

"You're Gordon's daughter, right?" he asked still smiling.

"His niece," Barbara corrected him. "Barbara,"

"Nice to finally meet you," he told her. "I've heard about you and all. The name's Dwight Morgan."

"New recruit?" she assumed.

"Yeah, just gone six months," Morgan answered.

"And they've got you in the evidence locker already?"

"They obviously thought I'd cause less trouble there," he grinned before waving goodbye, leaving Barbara alone again, this time with a small smile on her face still. Maybe the GCPD wasn't as corrupt as she thought, but then again, it may not take much for Officer Dwight Morgan to be persuaded otherwise after that little confrontation with Branden. Giving a small sigh, Barbara reached for her backpack and retrieved a police radio (that had once belonged to Branden but Barbara had _commandeered_ it) and turned it on to listen to the events at Blackgate while she worked.

It wasn't long until it became evident that things weren't going so well for the police over at the prison. Black Mask's men had taken the warden, Martin Joseph, hostage and had begun to let some of the prisoners out. Barbara had begun to listen more attentively once there were mentions of a giant crocodile rampaging through the place before it sounded like the Police Commissioner himself had been taken hostage and she heard her uncle instructing every available officer to get to the prison. Barbara quickly finished off the main updates to the mainframe as the reports over the radio started to become much more serious and alarming, and it sounded as though Calendar Man had somehow escaped the gas chamber and that the Commissioner had been killed and because of this, absolute pandemonium had broken out.

Once back in her uncle's office, Barbara sat at Jim's desk, nervously bitting her nails as she waited with baited breath to get more information about what was going on, and most importantly, information about her uncle, whom she hadn't heard over the radio in almost twenty minutes. She relaxed a bit when she heard _"We have site on the bat, I repeat, the Batman has been sighted!"_ No more than two minutes later came Jim's disgruntled voice saying that the Batman had gotten away. This fact made her smile.

- O -

After almost an hour of waiting, Jim finally walked through his office door to be met by Barbara's relieved hug.

"I was worried about you!" she said quickly, her arms still firmly wrapped around his neck, "Especially when they started talking about giant crocodiles! Is Commissioner Stevens really dead?"

"Yeah," Jim said solemnly, holding his niece tightly. "Black Mask locked him in the gas chamber and activated it."

Barbara gasped in shock, letting go of her uncle. Jim didn't have time to try and comfort her because Aaron Cash, followed by Branden, burst through the office door.

"Sir," Cash said, panting slightly as he grabbed hold of Barbara's police radio and began to tune it to another frequency. "We have a problem."

"What now?" asked Jim disbelievingly.

"Seems like we ain't the only ones after the Bat now," Branden said with a smile on his face. "Black Mask has put up a bounty of fifty million for the Bat's head and apparently a group of assassins have come to Gotham in order to deliver."

Jim swore under his breath, one hand resting on his hip, the other rubbing his forehead; a sign of stress.

"This will tear Gotham apart," he said darkly.

They all fell silent as they heard chatter on the new frequency that Cash had just tuned to and it sounded like radio chat between higher ranking thugs.

"_So, Penguin wants us to kill the Bat, right?_" said one voice.

"_No, you idiot, the Bat doesn't exists, the Penguin wants us to find out what Black Mask is really up to._" answered another gruff voice.

"_Oh come on, if Black Mask is willing to pay fifty mill-"_

"_It's a cover, it has to be. Either that, or Black Mask is finally losing it!"_

"_But even the Electrocutioner has been roped in, I heard him telling Mr Cobblepot!"_

_"__What was he saying?"_ asked the second voice, not sounding as sure of himself as before.

_"__Something about a group of assassins moving in to Gotham… a couple mercenaries, a few hired guns, that kind of thing. The Bat isn't going to know what's hit him!"_

Barbara looked back up to her uncle, worried about what she was hearing via the radio. He remained silent for a while before looking determinedly to Branden.

"Get SWAT ready," he instructed. "We are going to have to bring this vigilante in before chaos breaks out in our city. The emergency curfew is going to work in our favour. You have half an hour to brief you men, Branden. I'll need a small team to continue to look for any sign of Sionis; everyone else will be on the lookout for this Batman and the assassins. Cash, get me Wertz and tell Bullock to get everyone assembled in the bullpen ASAP."

"Shoot to kill?" asked Branden.

"No," Jim answered sternly. "Under no circumstances will we kill him. He needs to answer for his crimes, do you understand?"

Branden gave a reluctant nod before he and Cash left the office, and after telling Barbara to stay in the room, Jim left too. She listened in silence through the door to her uncle's briefing; feeling as though he was making out that this whole fiasco was Batman's fault, which didn't sit right with her. Sure, the Batman was a vigilante who spent his nights beating bad guys to a pulp, but she didn't think it was right that he was to be arrested because someone else put a ridiculously large bounty on his head. As Barbara heard Jim dismiss his men, she moved back to the chair behind the desk.

"You make it sound like he's the one in the wrong tonight," Barbara said slowly as her uncle walked back into his office.

"He is," Jim said sounding exhausted.

"I bet he isn't too happy that he's got a fifty million dollar bounty on his head. I can't imagine anyone asking for that."

"Barbara, let's not get into the details," Jim told her after giving a sigh.

"Why not, I'm not blind; I can see what's going on here." Barbara said firmly, getting to her feet.

"And what is that?" asked Jim sceptically.

"Batman's out there catching the criminals that you let walk free!" Barbara argued, hating the fact that everyone, including her own uncle, seemed to dismiss her just because she was so young.

"He is the worst kind of criminal," Jim said, his own temper obviously flaring up now too. "He's the kind who thinks their actions are justified - who acts completely outside of the system - "

"The system is broken!" Barbara snapped. "We hardly have a system anymore and you know it! You work in one of the most corrupt building in the whole of Gotham City, surrounded by bent police officers who beat innocent homeless men and Commissioners doing shady deals with crime lords! If you actually take a minute to look at it, Batman always seems to turn up to _stop_ a crime; he does what you wish you could to clean up this filthy city!"

"Barbara -" Jim attempted to say, but Barbara strode angrily out of the office, picking up her bag as she went.


End file.
